My friend who was ripped-off by buying a expensive but poorly spec'd desktop computer is
nagging me to ask GAF which PC games he should play and explore once his PC arrives in the mailbox.
He believes that PC have some fantastic PC exclusives such as:
- S.T.A.L.K.E.R
- System Shock 2
- Team Fortress 2
- Rust
- Escape from Tarkov
GAF, what other quintessential PC games should my friend play as he enters the PC Master Race this decade for the first time since 2002?
Meaning you?
Anyway, the strength of PC gaming lies within its customizability, which is an exclusive feature that'll never be replicated on closed systems. For example, setting up emulators to play your favorite PS2/Gamecube/Wii/etc. games in 1080p or higher, setting up a dual display environment (connecting both your monitor and your TV), or downloading .. say The Witcher 3 and playing that at 4K/144FPS with the choice of graphics mods or gameplay mods. There's really
no end, it's like an ocean opened up after you've been swimming in a puddle.
For starters, your "friend" should set up a Steam account
and GOG account and check some good deals there. I highly recommend going by the user reviews on Steam/GOG, they're not Metacritic and they're a good gauge to know whether or not a game is worth trying out.
As for games, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is my favorite franchise ever with a
huge modding community that has kept the game(s) relevant these days, but they're difficult for a beginner, sort of like playing Dark Souls for the first time after you've been playing Final Fantasy your entire life. They're very different from typical first person shooters, but they are extraordinarily atmospheric, unique and have
not been replicated since they were released. I recommend checking the
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Reddit section and the
Mod DB modding site.
If you want to play them, i highly recommend firstly trying out S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl (
GOG version !!!) with the
Zone Reclamation Project (huge bug fix patch). Graphics still look appealing, i mean you can play that thing in 4K at 144FPS if your machine can handle it, allthough the weapon models are kind of bad. If graphics are
too much of an issue, then download my package strictly designed to massively improve the graphics and animations -
XpressTuning's Remaster (Ultimate Edition). Once you're done with SoC, then buy S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat (GOG as well, ofc), the third entry in that series and some think it's the best - though it's not my favorite. Apply
AtmosFear and
Absolute Nature 4.04 for much better graphics (i don't know what's up with them, but they look damn worse in open environments than SoC), and that's it.
Once you're done and accustomed with the series, you can
really get into S.T.A.L.K.E.R. with
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Anomaly, which is the most complete S.T.A.L.K.E.R. experience and one of the best games ever made. Highly recommend a few tutorials, this extraordinary experience makes the original S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series look like a cake walk.